Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/217

Rh Catholics. 36,000 speak German and 12,000 Italian. The remainder use the Romansch or the Ladin dialect, probably corrupt descendants of the old &quot;lingua rustica&quot; of the Roman empire. The former is dying out in some districts on the Tyrolese frontier, and German is now everywhere taught in the schools. A large portion of the population find occupation and profit in the summer in attending to the wants of the numerous visitors attracted by the scenery or the mineral waters. There is a considerable transport trade with Italy, particularly in Val Tellina wines. Many of the young men seek their fortunes abroad as confec tioners and coffee-house keepers. Since Roman times the passes of the Grisons have been among the most frequented routes across the Alps. The Julier and Bernina, the Septimer, Spliigen, and Lukmanier, were the most used in the Middle Ages. In 1818-23 the great road of the San Bernardino was made, and it was soon rivalled by the Spliigen. The internal communica tions of the canton have been greatly developed in the last twenty years. The following are the principal carriage roads: (1) the Ober Alp, Vorderrheinthal to Uri; (2) the Valserberg, Ilanz to Hinterrhein ; (3) the Schyn, Julier, Albula, and Fluela Passes, connecting the Rhine valley and Davos district with the Engadine ; (4) the Maloya and Bernina Passes, connecting the Upper Engadine with Chiavenna and Val Tellina respectively; (5) the Ofen Pass and the road following the gorge of the Inn to Fin- stermuntz, leading into Tyrol. Two districts, the Upper Engadine and Davos, have lately acquired European fame as health resorts. Davos now receives every winter over 1000 consumptive patients. Statistics show that diseases of the lungs are very rare in high mountain districts, and local doctors observed that inhabitants who had contracted them in the plain recovered speedily on their return home. Davos is singu larly well situated for a sanatarium for these diseases. The climate, owing to its distance from the warm currents rising from the Italian plain, is, though severe, singularly dry and equable in winter, and the valley is open and sunny. Many good hotels offer every comfort to invalids.

 GRIVEGNÉE, a town of Belgium in the arrondissement and province of Liege, is situated on the Ourthe about a mile and a half S.W. of Liege. There are coal-mines in the neighbourhood, and the town posesses iron foundries and manufactories of brass-wire, nails, and iron boats. The population is about 6000.

 GROCYN,, an English scholar of the 15th century, was born at Bristol about 1442. Designed by his parents for the church, he was sent to Winchester College, and there he remained till his twenty-second year, when he was elected to a scholarship at New College, Oxford. In 1467 he became a fellow, and though ii 1479 he accepted the rectory of Newton Longville in Buckinghamshire, he continued to reside in the university city. Having been chosen reader in divinity in Magdaleu College in 1483, it fell to his lot to maintain a disputation with John Taylor, professor of divinity, in presence of King Richard III., and so well did he carry himself in the matter that the king sent him a buck and five marks. About 1488 Grocyn left England for Italy, and before his return in 1492 he had visited Florence, Rome, and Padua, and studied Greek and Latin under Demetrius Chalchondylea and Politian. As lecturer in Exeter College he found an opportunity of indoctrinating his countrymen in the new learning, and had the honour of teaching -Greek not only to Sir Thomas More but to Erasmus himself, who was indebted to him also for an introduction to Archbishop Warham. When, some time afterwards, Grocyn removed to London, he was chosen by Dean Colet to deliver lectures in St Paul's ; and in connexion with this engagement he gave a singular proof of his honesty. Having at first denounced all who impugned the authenticity of the Ilierarchia, Ecclesiastica ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite, he was led to modify his views as he advanced in his investigation of the subject, and at length openly declared that he had been completely mistaken. About this time he was evidently in straitened circumstances, and though in 1506 